The actor playing Manuel in the new Fawlty Towers stage show has had fighting lessons for the role.
Plucky Hemi Yeroham has to do plenty of slapstick scenes to play the dozy Spanish waiter. The production recreates the classic moments from the TV series where Basil Fawlty, played by John Cleese, hits Manuel, played by Andrew Sachs.
Hemi said: “We have ‘fight classes’ and it’s actually a little less than I thought it was. And it’s all gone very professionally.
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“There’s a funny anecdote about Sachs going to John Cleese and saying, ‘You know – you’re really hitting me hard and I’m being battered’ and Cleese replying, ‘It’s not like you’re doing it eight times a week in a theatre!’ Well, I am!”
(Image: PA)
Turkey-born Hemi hadn’t seen much of the sitcom before landing the role. He said: “I didn’t come to London until I was 20, and it was long before my time.
“So I watched a couple of scenes before going in for the audition. But I just went for it in the audition and kind of played the scene for what it was. Everybody I spoke to was like, ‘This is quite big. It’s really well known.'”
Hemi is hoping he can be as funny as Andrew was in the show, which launched in London on Saturday night. In the show he recreates a string of memorable moments that still make fans giggle almost 50 years after they first aired on TV.
(Image: PA)
He said: “I watched so many interviews that he did, and I really got a sense of how gentle he was, and naturally warm and sympathetic. I think he put that into Manuel. I understood Manuel much better.”
Fans can check into the world’s most chaotic hotel, in the West End. Tickets are available to be booked online to experience the production.
(Image: Press Association)
A synopsis of the play reads: “In this new comic play, the characters we know and love are all present and correct and nothing at the genteel Torquay hotel is running smoothly – it’s more of a madhouse than a spot for a weekend by the sea. Basil is in a bother of his own making, Sybil is gossiping, Manuel is struggling with his English, and Polly is trying to hold everything together.
“Adapted for the stage by John Cleese, who co-created the original TV show with Connie Booth and remains synonymous with the role of Basil Fawlty, the show is based on three of the best-loved episodes: The Hotel Inspectors, Communication Problems, and The Germans.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
